Ranks At Their Lowest Level In 27 Years

The number of "certified professional controllers" ... defined as those who are no longer in training and are allowed to direct traffic at airports on their own ... is at a critically low level, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

In a news conference held Tuesday in Washington, D.C., NATCA vice president Trish Gilbert said that the FAA has not met hiring goals for the past five years, and that the number of qualified controllers is at its lowest level in 27 years. Meanwhile, air traffic is on the rise, she said.

In remarks posted on the NATCA website, Gilbert said the safety of the air traffic control system is not at risk. Air traffic controllers are incredibly resilient. "But we see that they are in dire straits and therefore we must speak up. We have far too few controllers in our towers and radars rooms. If left unaddressed, the situation could result in delays similar to those the country experienced in April 2013, when air traffic controllers were furloughed due to sequestration’s mandatory budget cuts. Over those seven days of furloughs in 2013, there were 12,760 flights delays. For comparison, there were 3,860 delays during the same week in 2014 and 4,919 delays during the same week in 2012. We are not saying these delays will happen next week or next month, but we are saying that if this trend of reduced staffing continues, we are heading in the same direction as we did in April 2013."

Gilbert said the end of the fiscal year has given the union an opportunity assess the number of controllers and those in the pipeline. "Unfortunately the FAA will miss its air traffic controller hiring goal for fiscal year 2015. This will be the fifth consecutive fiscal year in which the FAA has not hired enough air traffic controllers to keep pace with workforce attrition. As of August 22, 2015, the FAA had only hired 1,178 of a planned 1,772 air traffic controllers, putting the agency 34 percent behind its goal," she said.

Fox News reports that Gilbert said in the news conference that the union is not attempting to bolster its numbers.

NATCA is calling for a congressional hearing regarding the chronic understaffing of air traffic control facilities. "Staffing the system appropriately takes years of planning, and it has been ignored for way too long. NATCA identified the scope of the problem years ago and rolled up our sleeves to develop processes, improve training, streamline hiring, and efficiently and effectively place controllers throughout the system," Gilbert said in the statement posted online. "Our goal was to prevent the predicament we are in today. Unfortunately the FAA has not demonstrated the same focus and zeal to proactively address the issue; it seems they will allow the downward staffing trend to continue."

(Source: NATCA website unless otherwise noted. Graphic provided by NATCA)

FMI: www.natca.org